This week, we’re sharing stories from Max Blau, Venessa Wong, Hope Wabuke, David Dayen, and Mark Sundeen.
LA Review of Books
‘The South Is Different Now. So Are We.’
On two tours of the South, taken 20 years apart, Pete Candler uncovers truths about his family and the place he comes from.
A Deeper South
On two road trips wandering the backroads of the South — taken 20 years apart — Pete Candler discovers many truths about his family and the place he comes from.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Justin Heckert, Hannah Louise Poston, Anne Helen Petersen, Jiayang Fan, and Rachel Greenwald Smith.
Travel Writing for Americans Who Stay Home
An editor reflects on a career in travel writing, even as Americans travel less and are exposed to less diversity.
Eastern Europe: Beyond the Cold War, and Beyond the Stereotypes
The homogenizing force of globalization means that a shopping center in Budapest doesn’t look all that different from one central Turin, or York, or Cleveland. Is “Eastern Europe” as an idea disappearing? Try Jacob Mikanowski’s essay in the LA Review of Books for some suggestions (and some objections).
Goodbye, Eastern Europe!
Is “Eastern Europe” disappearing? Was it ever real, or just a figment of Cold War imaginations?
But What’s IT All About?: How We Forgot the Murderous Clown
Adrian Daub’s fascinating essay in the LA Review of Books on the Stephen King classic IT — now 30 years old — reveals that the real horror of IT wasn’t Pennywise the supernatural clown, but our own, entirely human ability to forget the horrors of the past.
Where “It” Was: Rereading Stephen King’s “It” on Its 30th Anniversary
Was It really about a murderous clown, or was it about our ability to forget the horrors of the past?